You know that thing when you try to peel a label off a jar and whatever you do: soak it, scrape it, scrub it, little lumpy gooey bits stubbornly stay glued. Then one day a friend shows you a simple way to remove a label. Once you know how it is easy-peasy. No more sticky jam-jars for your precious home produce!
The stickiness of a label is bit like the persistence of the habits we pick up, often unwittingly, as we go along in life. Without noticing we get entrenched in set ways of thinking. And we become glued to them.
I often get told ‘I can’t meditate’, or ‘It’s not for me’ which is actually the truth for that person at that moment. Then this person will often go on to say ‘I can see mindfulness works for others, but it’s not for me, thank you very much.’ This perception of mindfulness practice is often based on what we think mindfulness might be, but we have never really had a good look – or asked someone to show us. This is a bit like not knowing how to remove that wretched label before being shown how! So it is with mindfulness.
One such ‘mindfulness is not for me’ person did actually make it to a free taster session, (NB next one is on Monday 4thJune at 7.00pm) and found that this thing called ‘mindfulness training’ wasn’t so mysterious after all, and actually quite down to earth and practical. So she came along for a course. One of her ‘stuck’ fears was claustrophobia, small spaces set off a panic attack. And not long after her 8-week plus one full day of mindfulness training she had to have an MRI scan. This is the email she sent me after that experience:
Just writing to thank you for being an ace meditation teacher. I’ve just had a MRI scan and I could cope with it. Who’d have thought it!
She told me later that the scan was over far sooner than she had anticipated!
Would you like to discover how to dissolve the glue of anxiety, worry and a sense of often feeling overwhelmed? Mindfulness practice can help evaporate the stickiness of these tendencies. It is far more than learning how to relax as it also helps us to release the adhesive that binds us to those debilitating habits. Gradually, through practice, it is possible to remain calm and at ease through the regular demands of everyday life as well as during those times when the unexpected erupts.
Want to know more? Contact Sue on 07962 798779 and mindfulness@sueweston.com